HIM
Love Metal

So, SEEING THAT: - I am well aware that Him are not great musicians and owe most of their success to the physical presence of frontman Ville Valo (citing rockol "with poses like a failed pornstar")- I am very aware that Him should not be taken seriously because they themselves do not take themselves seriously (from the official site – "favorite food: the body of Christ" – worthy of a fanatical seminarian)- Him are objectively tacky in 85% of things they do (even though I was fond of the old tacky guys and prefer them to the current MTV-ized Him) - the lyrics that pretend to talk about love and death are light years away from anything that can even remotely be defined as poetic - I risked, in a somewhat distant past, a fight with a rabid dark-goth fan of theirs, for having said that in the end it is as if they were the "“““bad””” brothers of The Calling.

HOWEVER, I think some merits can be recognized for this Finnish band which was one of the most constant listens of my early adolescence (especially this CD). First of all, when you decide to go with the fake dark pose, Him are the suitable background; if you take them for what they are they can even be fun. Another merit we can recognize in the band is adopting a rather unique genre that at least makes them immediately recognizable; also noteworthy are Ville Valo’s vocal skills as he is still a good singer who performs well live. This "Love Metal" is, in my opinion, one of the band's best works (besides the beautiful debut, although I always wonder if it was really them back then, who knows?!) which slightly detaches from the monotony of the still pleasant “Razorblade Romance.” Yes, because on this occasion Ville & company manage to bring out more than one pleasant piece: there are faster tracks like the opener “Buried Alive By Love” or “Soul On Fire,” the latter one of the band’s best tracks which is much more effective in the fast parts; the classic Him ballads, a couple of which however (“Sweet Pandemonium,” “The Sacrament”) are less syrupy than usual and well-crafted; there are then the classic Him tracks, that rock that pretends to be a bit gothic with some very eighties guitar riffs, such as “Beyond Redemption” and “The Funeral Of Hearts” (the latter a manifesto of the genre they believe they have created and define as “Love metal”).

However, the stylistic lapses are not lacking in the end being part of the same Him sound: Him are not really Him if they don't shove in a couple of those ugly tracks (“This Fortress of Tears” above all), syrupy to the extreme, with lyrics more embarrassing than they normally are, without even a catchy chorus to at least hum while choosing which crosses to wear… All things considered though, this “Love Metal” probably represents the most listenable CD from the Finns, a harmless rock without accolades or disgrace, a CD to put in the background when there are no tasks requiring concentration to do, a CD to listen to without expectations but also without prejudices. Certainly it cannot be defined as an honest work (Him don’t even know where honesty lives) nor can one discern any sophistication or experimentality. Nonetheless, it was a CD that I listened to a lot in my adolescence before gaining awareness, and it's precisely because it makes me remember the good times that I give it a 3, instead of the 2 that it objectively perhaps deserves.